Vonia's Reviews > Einstein’s Dreams

** spoiler alert ** Nothing short of amazing.

Alan Lightman really shows his expertise in the fields of physics and the philosophy of science, but also psychology as well as the social sciences.

He writes like a poet. More specifically, his descriptions read like poetry. It evokes emotions and paints such palpable images. A man's seemingly ordinary contemplation as he waits for a customer to arrive easily becomes twenty pages of un-putdownable picturesque prose from Lightman. He uses his writing to evoke emotions and present an event/feeling/situation without ever actually mentioning that event/feeling/situation. This is something all good writers do, a higher level of the most necessary "show rather than tell". But Alan Lightman does it with a rarely found elegance.

Furthermore, he has an incredible insight into the human psyche; but more importantly the ability to convert those insights into readable words; vignettes that force readers to think; that possess philosophical questions from angled not previously considered.

Add to this his scholarship in astronomy, astrophysics, humanities, philosophy of science, and physics (he is currently Professor of the Practice of the Humanities at Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and you have this prolific writer with a very unique talent of bridging the gap between the hard and soft sciences. No wonder his books are a success.

"Einstein's Dreams" consists of various scenarios, many of which are not fantastical at all. They are, on the surface, theoretical. However, further research shows that they might very well be based on reality- depending on your belief and understanding of quantum physics, philosophy, and relativity. Many of the scenarios are similar, many are the same stated differently. I have marked my favorites; the most fascinating; the ones that made me think the most, whether it be a good or bad possibility. The book actually begins with Einstein preparing to turn in his theory of time at the patent office where he works in 1905. Each of these scenarios are actually written with dates; each is a dream Einstein has. There are five chapters in which Lightman writes a little anecdote or vignette featuring Einstein, the prologue, three interludes, and an epilogue. The interludes are accompanied by an illustration; however minimal (three total), I have always been partial to illustrations in adult novels. They are fun stories, illustrating how overworked Einstein was, how his friend wonders why he ever got married in the first place, seeing how little attention he pays to her, married to his research. In the epilogue, he completes his theory of time.

>>>> Prologue

Time is like a flow of water, occasionally displaced; people that are sent back in time hide in the shadows, afraid to be responsible for changing history; such individuals from the future can be found in every village and every town, they are left alone and pitied.

**** At every point of decision, the world splits into three worlds, each with the same people but with different dates for those people; in time there are an infinity of worlds. Some make light of this isn't, arguing that all possible decisions will a car, so how could one be responsible for his actions?

**** In this world, there are two times. Mechanical and Body. The first is unyielding, predetermined, the latter makes up its mind as it goes along. One decides how to live their lives according to this. The former is always watching the dial; they look at their watched to tell them when it is time to eat, when to have sex; the body is a machine, a thing to be ordered, not obeyed. The latter laughs at the notion, for they know that time is inconsistent, rushing forward when they are with loved ones, but slowing down when they are taking their child to the emergency room. Thus, they listen to their moods and desires.

**** Everyone lives in the mountains here because at some time in the past scientist discovered that time flows more slowly the further from the center of the Earth. Life is run high above and everyone most avoid venturing down. No sitting. Height is status.

Time is absolute here. A world in which time is absolute is a world of consolation. For a while the movements of individuals are unpredictable, the movement of time is predictable.

Cause and effect are erratic. The two can be mixed, or unrelated. It is a world of sincerity, as everything only has one meaning, for the present. Living in the moment.

In this world, time does pass, but little happens. As little happens from year to year, little happens from month to month, day today. If time and the passage of events are the same, then time barely moves at all. If time and events are not the same, then it is only people who barely move. If a person holds no ambitions in this world, he suffers unknowingly. If a person hold ambitions, he suffers knowingly, but very slowly.

>>>> Interlude

**** The date for the end of the world is known as fact. Everything shuts down beginning a year before the date This results in a liberation and bliss, for if the end is inevitable, why not celebrate and love? In the last second, everyone is together in harmony.

Different towns are stuck in different periods of time. The tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone, for a life in the past cannot be shared with the present. Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone.

The passage of time equates to increasing order. People have fun with abandon, knowing that time will restore order. Lipsticks and brushes and letters may be tough and the purses with the satisfaction that they will sort themselves out automatically. Gardens may never be tended, desks become neat by the end of the day.

**** Time stands still. As a traveler approaches this place from any direction, he moves more and more slowly. Who would make this program is to the center of time? Parents with children, and lovers. Pure happiness occurs as children are forever young and love lasts forever. Sadly, as one returns to the outer world, children grow rapidly, forget the centuries long embrace from their parents, and lovers return to find their friends long gone. Would you rather have an eternity of contentment, even if that eternity were fixed and frozen?

**** No time. Only images. I want to copy this entire chapter, which was beautifully written. Pages 57 to 60. A short excerpt: "A young boy sitting in an empty auditorium, his heart racing as if he were on stage. Footprints in snow on a winter island. A leaf on the ground in Autumn, red and gold and brown, delicate. A stall of peppers on Marktgasse, the yellow and green and red. A woman lying on her couch with wet hair, holding the hand of a man she will never see again. A train with red cars, on a great bridge, with graceful arches, the river underneath, tiny dots that are houses in the distance. blue Shadows of trees in a full moon. Roses cut and adrift on the river beneath the bridge, with a chateau rising. Red hair of a lover, wild, mysterious, promising. The purple petals of an iris, held by a young woman. The first kiss. Planets caught in space, oceans, silent. A yellow brush."

There are no memories. When it is time to return to the families at the end of the day, each person consults his address book to learn where he lives. With time, each person's Book of Life thickens until it cannot be read in its entirety. The elderly might read the early pages, to know themselves when they were young, or they may read the end to know themselves in later years. Others have decided not to read at all. They have decided that it matters if you are a good or bad, richer or poorer, educated or uneducated, for no one will remember. They look you in the eye.

Time flows unevenly; individuals receive occasional glimpses of the future. Few risks are taken. Those who have seen the future do not need to take risks, and those who have not yet seem to be sure to wait for their vision without taking risks.

All is in motion. Time is slower for those in motion. Time is money. Thus, like the scenario in which height equates to status, the faster and more one moves, the better. Unfortunately, seeing others equals seeing the other gain time. So no more looking at others?

>>>> Interlude

Time moves backward. A couple waits for the infatuation honeymoon period while they deal with divorce. At a funeral, one gladly waits for the good times.

**** Everyone only lives one day. One will only ever see one season. By the end of the day, one is already alone. Parents have died by noon, friends have moved. Life is divided, unknown with no witnesses.

Time is a sense, dependent on the prior history of the seer. Does time really exist outside perception? Who can say if an event happens with or without cause, in the past or the future, or happened at all?

****Immortality. There are The Laters and The Nows. With all the time in the world, would you procrastinate or would you as a result feel you need to do even more? Some commit suicide. I found it nice that They were given this option at all. True immortality, in my opinion, would come with the cost of the inability to die. And I would choose mortality over immortality. I believe we cannot truly appreciate the light without the darkness to understand the difference.

Time is a quality, not quantity. It cannot be measured. There are no clocks, calendars, definite appointments. Events occur in accordance and in relation to other events. One will see a woman waiting at an intersection for who knows how long for her lover.

The is no future. It is not possible to imagine the future. Each kiss is the last kiss, each laugh the last laugh. One cannot imagine consequences. Some are paralyzed by fear, others the opposite. One sits at a café, marveling at how the world ends in rain, since every moment is the end. He is not waiting for the rain to end, because waiting does not exist. Twenty minutes later, he Marvel's at how the world ends in sunlight.

**** Time is a visible dimension. I guess this is omniscient time travel. One can look one way a see marriages, divorces; the other, children, deaths. One may choose to enter different time dimensions. I would find this highly torturous. One could step into the uncertainty of the future or stay stable, but once you see your future, everything changes. One might get lost in time, wonder at what you lost.

Time is intermittent. At restarts of time, the pieces can sometimes not fit together perfectly. For example, a couple meet. In the middle of their conversation, time is restarted, unbeknownst to either. He reads something on her face that makes him think she is no longer in love with him, ending things forever.

>>>> Interlude

**** The Temple of Time. Only one Great Clock in the world, which people pilgrimage to from all over to pay their respects. This is basically about how we can be a slave to time; that we want it but we hate the power it has over our lives at the same time. At any given time, thousands are in queue; they stand secretly hating, for "They must watch measured that which should not be measured. They have been trapped their own inventiveness and audacity. And they must pay with their lives."

Time is a local phenomenon. Different location, different speed. The time it takes to fall in love in one place could equate to one second in another. One drop of water, a girl becomes a woman. Thus results in much variety. Isolation. Would you want to travel to another time zone? This scenario is similar to the one where time stands still in one place.

**** Time is predetermined; there is no freedom of choice. Therefore, is there no right or wrong? No person is responsible for their actions. Everyone is merely a spectator. I wonder, how would I feel in this world? On the one hand, I feel I would hate it. On the other, maybe I would feel at least a little good, relieved, literally, of the burden of choice?

Countless copies. One feels all the others like him. Which reputation is his own, his true identity, his future? Should he leave his wife? What comfort has he given him? His thoughts loop back. Should he leave his wife? Confusion.

A shifting past. How would we know what the true past is; why would we care if it could randomly change?

One can trap time, which is a nightingale. This is difficult to do, a rare occurrence. When one does, the catchers delight in the moment now frozen; they savor the precise placement of family and friends and facial expressions, but soon discover that the nightingale expires. Essentially, the ability to freeze time.

>>>> Epilogue

Since this was so similar to Italo Calvino's "Invisible Cities", but I actually liked this far more, I think it is noteworthy to share more praise I had for Alan Lightman's after reading both: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...